cheap airfare.

[Calipro]

http://www.airbookers.com/

I just bought round trip air to Cali from Phoenix in March for $614 including tax. The airline is Continental - COPA.

[cancunhound]

... in response to cheap airfare. , posted by Calipro on Jan 19, 2004

I typically use services similar to airbookers.com (like travel.yahoo or msn.expedia) to find the best rates, then go directly to the airline's site to avoid the surcharges if possible.  It looks like airbookers fee is about $12, but what's interesting is I can't match an itinerary price by going to COPA's or Continental's website.  Even though COPA is affiliated with Continental, you are limited to selecting only certain itineraries with COPA, and Continental's site will give an error saying they don't fly to Cali.  I wonder if maybe a phone call to either one would result in a ticket processed for $12 less?  That airbookers.com looks like a good resource.  BUT:

I just did a quick check from DFW to CLO:
Yahoo (Travelocity) has $700.50 via American and Avianca
Airbookers got it down to $614.00 via Continental/Copa (but 2 stops)
American directly - $747.50.

That Airbookers.com price is tempting even with the extra stop.  However, they say their site is secure and uses SSL BUT you are asked to provide credit card info on a non-secure page. They also do not provide a phone number or physical address.  Those are some pretty substantial caution flags! Has anyone used this service with success?

[Calipro]

... in response to interesting ...., posted by cancunhound on Jan 19, 2004

After you purchase the tickets they send you an e-mail confirming your intinery and give you contact info.

Phone: 1-800-SKY-7715
Email: ticketing@airbookers.com

If they don't send me the tickets I'll let you know.

[cancunhound]

... in response to Re: interesting ...., posted by Calipro on Jan 19, 2004

I poked around a bit and traced their search engine source - it's a consolidator of airline consolidators called Patheo.com.  I believe some airlines like American no longer deal with consolidators so the price for them won't be any less.  But Continental/COPA are still in the loop.  The more I dug I found that there's many sites using that same engine, I cross-checked a couple like AirGorilla.com and it was interesting they all returned different prices.  From my quick research, it appears the service can be accessed for a monthly fee of $19 - It would be interesting to know just what the actual airfare price is direct from the consolidator.  

Just a crazy thought but with a significant traveling group like we have here - purchase an account, then just load the fees by a percent or so to cover the monthly charge and to provide an operating reserve - we could potentially save hundreds individually on each airfare purchase when a consolidator option is available?